Natural building: water-resistant earthen floors don't off-gas
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- čas přidán 2. 11. 2010
- Earthen floors are growing in popularity not simply because they forgo non-renewable resources, but because they have an aesthetic appeal that some homeowners find warmer and more inviting than hardwoods and carpet.
Earth floors also absorb the sun and so can provide a great heat sink for passive solar design. And unlike many carpets and hardwood finishes, they don’t off-gas VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds).
In this video, natural building expert Michael G. Smith from the Emerald Earth Sanctuary shows us the first layer of an earthen floor (clay soil, sand, chopped straw and road base, or crushed rock): just one layer of the 3 layers they eventually use.
He also shows us a finished floor that has been treated with 4 to 6 coats of linseed oil and is water-resistant and completely mop friendly.
Straw, clay, wood: strawclaywood.com/
On *faircompanies: faircompanies.com/videos/natu... - Jak na to + styl
He co-authored one of the natural building classics "The Hand Sculpted House, A Practical and Philosophical Guide to Building a Cob Cottage".
My favourite book, I feel like I discover something new every time I pick it up.
@YesWeTan I don't know the proportions Michael used for this floor, but I know mixes vary quite a bit. In a book he edited called "Natural Building" different builders talk about their mixes. One created a mix for just from pure road base without any stabilizers. Another talks about creating samples ranging from pure soil- going up in increments of 1/2 part sand- and testing it all the way up to 3 parts sand. Michael's written quite a few books on the topic. Google him at Michael G. Smith.
Great information and easy to follow. Thank you for these videos, they help me understand the process a whole lot better than some of the other videos. Awesome work!
@vention4wh You're right. Earthen floors aren't great insulators, though you can install insulation beneath them.
Great video, thanks to the creator for sharing his expertise.
How do you do a earth floor over a cement slab.
@Kristen: Great video, keep up the good work.👍
I live in north Georgia and live in a apartment with a slab floor and carpet. During the winter, if you had your feet on the floor for more than 15 minutes, you would loose all feeling up to your knees even though the air temp was in the mid 70s. Ottomans saved me from frost bite.
love this guy, really empowering to be able to build with healthy materials. super curious about the lack of underlayment and insulation that other videos say is necessary.. does the thick road base take care of that?
I wo der if you could give the ratios that you use with the ingredients. thanks
How much linseed oil is required for 1m2 area of the mud floor?
Wow! Neat. I wouldn't choose that type of floor in a cold weather environment though, unless I had some kind of insulation layer below the floor. My condo (or should I say my 100% paid off condo) has a concrete floor. During the winter it kind of sucks the heat out of my home. It's great during the summer though, even when the outside temp is nearly 100, I rarely even need air conditioning. I just turn on a small fan and I'm perfectly comfortable.
respect! 8-)
jp.great video bud
So no plastic under it? And still resist the ground water please?
Beautiful! Are the floors rough? Can you easily glide a mop over them?
interesting thanks for the video im wondering if UV dried polymer castor oil which would immediately dry be a better solution its natural and has one of the hardest resistant's to scratching staines etc ??
If it's UV-polymerized, it'd be hard to polymerize the stuff that soaks into the flooring.
should you add lime to the mixture for the concrete floor. not the fruit lime but the construction stuff.
is it sealed in raw linseed oil or boiled?
Man guy talking high af but making total sense. Ill smoke and talk about earthen floors
That guys voice sounds like he's stoned and struggling to talk.
😂😂😂😅😅😅
PLEASE tell me that this man has a book that explains how he does EVERYTHING. I NEED this info!
Yes, it’s in the pinned comment
Will the linseed oil liquify in hot temps?
What about making a bathtub this way? Will the oil leach into the water?
Btw in responds to vention4wh, earthen floors are better insulators than concrete.
In colder climates radiant floor heating would be the way to go.
The oil polymerizes in hot temperatures, the same as seasoning a cast iron pan. You could make a bathtub this way. If the oil leeches into the water it won’t be a problem, that’s partly how soap works. Earthen floors are not necessarily better insulators than cement. Cobb doesn’t have much r-value analysis, but it’s partly more effective thermal mass, but that could depend on the Cobb mix ratio.
Thank you for the video!! Do you have a vapor barrier or insulation in the floor?
We're planning on doing an earthen flooring using a vapor barrier (unless you have a good reason not too) but I don't really want to put down rigid foam insulation. The book we're following is "Earthen Floor - A Modern Approach to an Ancient Practice" by Sukita Reay Crimmel. They talk about insulation in the book, but they don't come out and say you HAVE to use it. We live in southern Missouri and it doesn't get super cold.
I don't want to use the insulation, mainly because it's so expensive. Thank you!!
Hello Sandy,
We're also in Southern Missouri, and I was wondering what you ended up doing, and how it turned out?
Peace.
Having a dislike for cold feet, you can insulate them by adding a layer of varying rock then vapor layer then perlite. Then add your mix, is my understanding
You can add floor water radiant heating with water solar or biogas heating when no sun is out
Just like a normal hardwood, tile, or linoleum floor. With a mop.
Wood is good, sand is expensive. Polyurethane can be painted onto a wooden floor such that it shines brilliantly. It is also less expensive to build.
Do you mean timber floor boards on the earthen floor?
Can u do in floor heat?
Yes
I never said with Pine-Sol or anything. I just said with a mop. I imagine if you have some hot water and a soft soap you could probably get anything cleaned up.
Hello All, Has anybody heard of any dance studios with earth or clay floors? Thanks
Did you find out about your question? I have the same three years later. Thanks
i would imagine there would have been a few dance studios in places like mexico and india, etc., etc. i believe they built this way back then.
Totally judging your "... ACTUALLY, I'd challenge you to actually..."
@cptnblackbeard Because it sounds like he's overcome a chronic stutter... I'd challenge you to do the same... ACTUALLY, I'd challenge you to actually drop the judgement.
😊😅😮
absolutely he could have or overcome a serious lung disease
So baked he can barely speak………….man.
😂😂😂😂😂 dude I was looking for this comment 😅😅
I would be extremely cautious using linseed oil. ESPECIALLY if you are wiping it up with cloth, like a towel because although the building materials you are using are fireproof, linseed oil can take MONTHS to dry completely and if it doesn't dry and it touches other materials... like a balled up dirty towel or cloth furniture this material is capable of smoldering and spontaneously combusting. It poses the greatest risk for oil painting artists besides the fumes of the oil itself which can cause severe and permanent neurological damage working with it in a badly vented area. I would highly suggest researching an alternative oil that does not contain combustable properties.
it is being applied to dirt though so it soaks in no? doesnt that aid the drying process some?
Hi! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Is it referring to the industrialized linseed oil which is mixed with synthetics products or the 100% natural linseed oil ?
M.R. Hawks I think every oil is combustable-including oil from seeds! Otherwise you couldn't run an old diesel engine on oil used for frying things....Erica and Ernie Wisner use this for the finishing for their cob built rocket massheaters...also looks nice!
I severely doubt raw linseed oil would give anyone neurological damage. what you don't want to use is 'boiled' linseed oil which is not actually boiled but filled with toxic additives. they just call it boiled to make it sound nice
What toxic additives please?The difference between Raw and the Boiled Linseed Oils is that Raw Linseed Oil has a longer drying time, where as Boiled Linseed Oil has been treated by blowing hot air through the liquid - this shortens its drying time considerably.
So hard to listen too
He must be so down to earth that even consumes less air to breath.
You are a breath of stale air. Reconsider your maturity level and come back when you grow up.
Great info but I cant listen to tue way he talks. I hope you can fix whatever is making you talk like that.
He probably has Tourette Jason. It isn't something people can control if they have this syndrome. If he does have Tourette then he is doing good by being able to express himself as good as he is doing.
Grow up, it will be good for you and if you have them, your children.